The Menagerie
by WGlint
Summary: You're a career soldier? Good. One of the best? Better. ODST? Wonderful. You'd be excellent as a meat shield for my guys.
1. Good Boy

[The Drop]

They kept telling you that going feet first meant you were the best. The elite. The ones no one could touch. As soon as you saw that HEV, you knew…you knew that was a bunch of BS. I was strapped in, locked inside of a metal coffin with a few screens, a big window and my rifle on my right. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable experience I've ever had.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, Felum is your worst nightmare. The whole damn moon is crawling with covenant, and they aren't going to let it go. That being said, the area surrounding the moon is an area we desperately need to control if we're going to be able to cut the Covenant's supply chain. HIGHCOM and ONI have determined that the only way we'll be able to control who uses slipspace jump around these parts is to completely eliminate the Covenant threat in the area. That's where you come in." _

I didn't really know what to think. I suppose I was used to suicide missions at this point. "Feet first into hell," and all that. Danger's in your job description, especially if you're an ODST. I wasn't aware that I was just ONI's meat shield, though. That was it. Our mission was simple._ "Get to the main compound near the center of the base we'll be invading, and remote wire five HAVOKs all throughout the base. Nothing survives, not even the damn roaches."_

"_Roaches don't live on Felum, sir."_

"_Neither will you."_

The hull of my little person pod started heating up rapidly. Steam and superheated oxygen rolled off the side of the window, and the fire of re-entry was in plain sight. This was always supposed to be the _fun _part of combat drops, too. The two video screens on the sides displayed my commander's and the medic's HEV units. Both of them bugged out with static. I craned my neck to see what was going on. They'd both launched at a funny angle. Two degrees off center. Enough to send them smacking into each other and breaching the hull of the HEV. Sure, they had about fifteen minutes before their air ran out, but by then they'd be dust in the atmosphere. "Lots of fun," I said to myself. It was a shame. I liked them both.

The red turned to dark blue, all of the sudden. We were inside the atmosphere. The ONI spooks had decided to drop us in at night. Supposedly it made us harder to spot. I doubt it. Those elites can see anything. Trajectory said I'd make landfall in 90 seconds. Either I'd stick the landing and regroup with my squad, or I'd end up like pancake on the side of the drop zone. I had a minute and a half until I found out.

[Special Delivery]

I woke up maybe two minutes after the initial contact with the dirt. Damn, that really hurt. I looked around. The window was cracked beyond all hell. When my ears finally came back, I could hear the familiar sounds of gunfire and cursing. I was definitely a bit late to the party. I punched the emergency release and saw the door fly straight up and off. I looked over at my rifle. The barrel, once long and stout, was now bent at the slightest angle. "Seriously?" Great. Feet first into hell without my fangs. I had no choice though. I grabbed the pistol from my leg strap and jumped out of the HEV.

The field was all kinds of pretty colors. Purples, yellows, blues and reds. And pinks. Don't forget the damn pinks. "Have to find my unit," I said breathlessly, running over to a low part of the field. There was all kinds of hell going on and I could contribute virtually nothing to defend myself. The VISR kicked in, flashing red all over the place. I turned my head at sixty miles an hour, looking for that precious green outline. I'd found it. Four. Four out of 55 soldiers from the 105th Special task force had survived two minutes after the initial drop. Wait. I'm still here. Make it five then. I had no time to waste. The mission had obviously gone FUBAR, but I didn't want to die knowing I'd just sat on my ass instead of acting. I suppose this is what the commander called "Medal runs."

"_It's when you do something so outrageously stupid that you're bound to get a medal. But they usually give it to your girl or your mother." _Charming fellow, my commander was.

Rounds from plasma pistols and fuel rod cannons pulverized the area immediately surrounding the drop zone. I was still basically unarmed, so I slid down and grabbed an M7S Silenced Machine gun from some poor bastard who got stuck in the face. The Cartridge was still full. The guy didn't even have the chance to get a shot off. I ran over, as fast as my armored legs could carry me, to where the other four shock troops were. "Jackson! Is that you? What the hell is going on here?" Funny. I thought he'd be able to tell me.

I started returning fire, aiming to pick off grunts and Jackals, mostly. Cheap kills, but the more fire off our backs, the better. "The commander and the medic in charge never made the drop. Smacked straight into each other!" We were eating through the ammo we had pooled, fast. Suddenly, the guy immediately to the right of me took a fuel rod to the chest and we all flew twenty feet. My VISR went white for a few seconds, and then came back. When I woke up, I was the only one still breathing. Well, this isn't good. I could barely move from all the shock, and my ears were ringing like there was no tomorrow. There probably wasn't.

The strange thing was, now that everyone was dead, the field was deathly still and silent. All the enemy grunts, jackals and elites seemed to have scampered off somewhere. Better there than here, I supposed. I managed to get to my knees and drew the M6 pistol I had out. Suddenly, the air around me started shivering. The tell-tale sign of a spec-ops elite unit. I sighed. I was definitely dead. There were four of them. All of them were wielding energy swords. This must have been the mop up crew. How long was I out? Wait…there wasn't time for any of these questions. The elite facing me spoke. "Heretic, your time has come. You shall now be judged by the will of the ancients." I emptied my clip, but the elite just stood there, letting his shield absorb all the puny rounds. The elite to the left of me kicked my arm and made me drop the spent weapon. I was now completely defenseless. The one in front of me kicked me square in the chest. I was on my back, and totally helpless. Oh god. He raised his sword and brought it straight down on my head.

Or, at least he would have, had he the chance.


	2. Crash course

[In Shining Armor]

Right as he was about to send me to my maker, something really, really red hit him in the back. He was lifted off his feet, and flung twenty feet into the air. He landed some distance away with a skeleton crushing crack. Blue liquid started oozing out of the cracks in his armor.

Without thinking, I grabbed the energy sword he dropped as he flew. I ignited the blade and stabbed the left elite's throat, quickly killing it. Behind me, a burst of SMG fire made the third elite yell in pain as he succumbed to the suppression being laid down upon him. From out of nowhere, a soldier in brilliant white armor jumped down and planted two combat knives deep into the neck of the last elite, completely draining the blood from his head before taking them out. It was the kind of brutal efficiency you only saw in the movies. At least, that's what I thought.

Soon, all of my saviors came into view. I was staring at soldiers, UNSC, if I had to bet the rent on it, clad in some seriously advanced armor. Only one explanation came to mind when I thought of how they'd handled the elites. "Spartans."

They stared at me for a few seconds. It was almost like they didn't know I was addressing them when I'd said it. Finally, the white one spoke. "SPARTAN team Eta." He was kind of terse. Almost like he resented the fact that he had to say that. Another Spartan, with a pointed, shark like helmet, painted bright red with blue shoulders, spoke. "We're here for the same reason you are. We need to get to that complex." It was a woman behind that mask. It made me scared. In general, Spartans scared all of us, but female Spartans were something else entirely. The one holding the Spartan laser spoke. "We lost our sniper," she said, addressing the white one.

"You handy with a sniper rifle?" He asked, pointing at me. I was scared. I mean, sure, I was, but I probably wasn't on par with a Spartan…

"Uh, yes sir. Mine was damaged in the drop, though."

"Not a problem," An orange clad Spartan said. He took the weapon off of his back. It was a standard sniper rifle, modified to work with VISR systems. Curiously, it had a bright yellow band going around the stock of the weapon. "Our orders were to replace any key member of the squad with surviving ODSTs, if they were available." From what I could tell, that meant that we weren't meant to actually accomplish the mission we were given. We weren't even expected to survive.

"I suppose my outfit was a scapegoat, then?" I asked. I tried not to have an edge in my voice. It was HIGHCOM's fault, not theirs. It was kinda pressing on my mind, though.

The red one spoke again. "Basically. Your unit did its job well though, if that's any consolation." She said. There was a certain dryness to her voice. She wasn't exactly mean, but it somehow lacked sincerity.

"In any case, we need your services, now, Helljumper. You're now placed under my command, do you understand?"

I was a lance corporal, but it didn't really matter to me. Even if I did outrank them, which I doubted, I wasn't about to start ordering around a bunch of Spartans. "Yes, sir. Permission to speak, sir?"

"Let's move out of the open, and then granted." I nodded. Here was a story for my grandkids. You know, If I lived to have any.

[Hellomyname]

We got into the lush jungle. It was probably close to 85 degrees in here, but luckily my suit kept me nice and balmy. When we finally stopped covering ground so quickly, the white Spartan found a nice spot for some rest. "Okay, time for introductions and a re-confirmation of objectives." He said. Sounded like he wanted to get to the point. I liked that.

He spoke. "I'm Arthur. Arthur-H34. Commander of Eta team, and responsible for reconnaissance."

The red Spartan spoke again. "Julia-H13. Second in command, responsible for fire support for Arthur-H34 and reconnaissance."

A Spartan clad in Olive green armor and a large, spaceman like helmet spoke. "I'm Heather-H46. I handle anti-vehicle weaponry and medical duties."

The orange armored Spartan spoke. He had a bandit, almost rogue like helmet on, and carried a shotgun. Two covenant plasma rifles were on his legs. He seemed to be the only one wielding covenant weaponry. "Daniel-H87 at your service. Pointman and close weapons specialist."

Finally, a Dark grey Spartan spoke. Out of all of them, he seemed to be wearing the most standard looking helmet, the standard Spartan armor I knew the best. "Eric-H66. Heavy Weapons." He sounded like he spoke very little. Ironic.

"Your turn," Heather said.

"I'm Jackson. In Hermes Squad I was the designated marksman," I said. I wasn't exactly qualified to be the sniper for a bunch of SPARTANs, but if they needed the job done, I was happy to fill in.

"Okay. Eta team probably does things a bit differently than you're used to, trooper. We go in, quickly, quietly, take care of business, and get the hell out of here. You were probably told that the objective was to reach the covenant's strong point and set off a nuclear reaction in the center. That is still the goal, however, we'll be infiltrating rather than just blitzing the complex."

"Where are the HAVOK mines, sir?" I asked. I didn't know if we'd even received any on our way down. "They're at a secret drop zone about twenty kilometers from this location, along with some more weapons, supplies, and ammo. We should be able to get there by this time tomorrow. I'll let you know the specifics of the plan as I come up with them." Great. I suppose Spartans made up mission tactics as they went along.

"Alright, time to get moving," Julia said. Everyone got up and started to move out.

As we started to move, Eric tossed me an M7. "It's better than your magnum."

"Uh, yeah, thanks," I said. He was right, though. It _was _better than just carrying around a pistol. We moved through the jungle, jumping over and breaking through foliage. As we walked, no one really spoke. I wondered if all Spartan outfits were this silent when they were moving. All of the sudden Heather dropped back. It was the first time I noticed her armor. It was dark olive, and the bubble helmet had that gold electroplating that made the Spartans so recognizable. She was carrying a battle rifle and a Spartan Laser. Without thinking, I asked, "Were you the one who shot the elite?"

"Yes, yes I was." She cocked her head. Her helmet blocked any interpretation of emotion, but I could tell she was curious as to why I asked the question.

"Thank you," I replied. I wasn't really sure how else to say it. She definitely saved my ass back there.

"It wasn't anything big," she said as we continued walking. "No soldier gets left behind. Besides, we needed a guy like you.

I was still basically just a stand-in for their SPARTAN sniper, but if it meant I had these guys at my back, it was…bearable.


	3. Orestes

[Praise be to]

We were about seven kilometers into the trip. I noticed that not one of the Spartans ever de-polarized, so I elected not to, lest I break the image. I was already a fifth wheel as it was…I wasn't about to give them any more of a reason to distrust me. Heather was back ahead, talking privately with the other woman, Julia. I couldn't help but notice…they all sounded kind of young. I wondered just how old these guys were. I wasn't about to ask, though. There was something just…supremely awkward about being the one helljumper surrounded by the UNSC's best. I suppose I shouldn't feel that way, though. Soldiers were soldiers, no matter where they came from.

I kept walking, trying to push off my feelings. They wouldn't really serve me in a combat situation. _You're a soldier, damn it._

All of the sudden I felt a pat on the back. Maybe it was a Spartan tap. It hurt. A lot.

"Hey, gunny," said the voice. I turned around. It was Daniel, the shotgunner.

"Uh, hello," I said. It was highly out of term to speak like that to someone who was probably my CO, but it didn't seem to matter. "sir," I added, just in case.

"No need, Jackson. Speak freely," he said, almost nonchalantly. It was odd; he wasn't quite like the others around him. We kept walking, trudging over random piles of sticks on the ground. I struggled in my head for what to say to that. Finally, I had something. "Who are you guys?"

"We're the same as you guys. Just, soldiers." It was such a weird way to put it. It was almost like they resented their status as the heroes of mankind. Like they _wanted_ to be seen as just the average buckethead. I left it at that. Anymore, and I might make an issue where there wasn't one.

We kept walking through the jungle. There were all kinds of noises, and twice I stepped into what I can only hope wasn't local…droppings. They were so sticky, almost slimy. It was everywhere, too. Nightfall came. We were all pretty beat. Well, that was a generalization. Spartans. You never knew if they were tired or even moving. Maybe they _were _robots. Finally, we stopped. "Alright, we're still about eight kilometers away from the site. We'll make up time tomorrow. We'll camp here. Who's got the supplies and rations?" All of the Spartans looked to Heather. "I just have the medical gear…Oscar had all the supplies." I assumed Oscar was their sniper.

"Well…that ain't good," Daniel said. It wasn't. Without rations, we'd all be running on fumes in the morning, and we'd be zombies by this time tomorrow. Or at least I would be. Then I remembered something.

"Permission to speak, sir?" I asked aloud, addressing it to whoever felt like answering.

"Granted, and keep it that way. It's easier," Arthur said. Well, that was nice to know.

"I think I have my team's supplies in my rucksack," I said, grabbing it out of my bag. Sure enough, there it was, in all its foil wrapped, non perishable, vacuum sealed glory. Five meals, ready to eat. It even had toilet paper. I don't know why, but it did.

"Wonderful," Julia said. It was only the second time she'd addressed me. I threw them to each party member. All of them grabbed them with one hand. Heather opened hers, but before she could eat the contents, Eric stopped us. "Hold on. First, grace." Funny, Eric was the last guy I thought of as religious.

Arthur put his meal on the ground and knelt next to it. Everyone else soon followed. The fire I'd started blazed on, and everyone's armor glowed a very serene shade of orange.

Eric started. "Dear lord, we thank you for this meal."

[Things that go bump]

Arthur knocked on my helmet. It was early morning. I had fallen asleep kneeling on some log. "Get up, gunny. We've got ground to cover." The VISR came into focus, but I'd left the light on, so everything was incredibly bright. I turned it off and grabbed the rifle next to me. Most of the other SPARTANS were already up, except for Heather. She was sleeping with her arms folded, cradling the Spartan Laser. Julia tapped on her helmet. "Time to move." Within seconds, she was up and ready to go.

We all got out in the open. It was about 0600 local time. There was occasional rustling of the leaves. "I hate jungles," Julia said. "You never know when to shoot."

As we continued to walk, we heard more rustling. And then more. After the third time, Arthur started to get suspicious. We all did.

"Julia and I will scout ahead," He said. "The rest of you, cover each other and keep us posted on the situation.

"Roger that," the rest of us said in unison. I felt kinda weird saying that. It was almost like I belonged now. Or maybe it was just me being self—

"Contact," Daniel whispered. I turned the VISR onto its lowest setting. I saw three shimmering red outlines on either side of me. They were short, almost childish, standing at about five feet tall each. "Grunts," I whispered back. The other three Spartans nodded in agreement. This could be bad.

"Eta-H46 to Eta-H13," Heather began, "we have contact on either side of us, they haven't started combat. Permission to engage?"

Julia's reply was very swift and brief. "Granted. Be quiet about it."

Everyone went about it silently. Most took out their silenced M6s. I screwed my extra silencer onto my M7 and brought it up to firing level. What was I doing? I was a sniper, not a pointman. This was a job for Daniel or Eriq, not me. Unless, unless being a SPARTAN sniper meant you had to be totally prepared for anything.

Heather went first, taking Eric with her. Daniel and I took the opposite position. We spotted them first. They were all dressed in black uniforms. Both on our side were carrying Fuel Rod Guns. "Spec Ops," I said wordlessly. Daniel nodded in response. They hadn't noticed us yet. Either that, or they'd been ordered to stand back. Suddenly, Arthur crackled in. "We've got elites. They know we're here. Go loud."

Daniel went loose. He took out the first grunt with a shotgun blast to the back of the head. I laid twenty rounds into the other grunt's head, hearing him whimper a bit before he fell over. On the other side, Heather nailed one with a melee to the back of the head with her Spartan laser. We ran for the front line of the expedition. Arthur and Julia hadn't updated them, so either they were in a firefight, or dead. In any case, we rushed over to their last known position. All the sudden, Heather cracked in "Hang back, Jackson. We need your sniper cover."

Finally, a chance to do my job.

I found a nice spot by a rock where I could set the rifle up. She wasn't mine, but she still felt familiar. The touch, the grooves on the metal, the bore of the gun, all totally familiar. This was my new baby. I took aim, syncing the scope with my VISR. Everything was solid. From here, I could see a few elites engaging the Spartan team. I was about to ask if I had permission to engage, but I remembered that "go loud" is generally a standing order.

Two shots. The rifle ejected the spent shells casually, almost lazily, out of the side of the gun. The first round hit the elite, making his shield turn all fuzzy and yellow. It went dead soon after. The next shot hit him square between the eyes, spinning him around felling him. As he went down, he sprayed his plasma rifle all over the place, his trigger finger locked in combat with nothing in particular.

The elite opposite took notice that he was also under fire and quickly dived into some near ferns for cover. Not enough. I turned the VISR back on, found his read outline, and fired two more shots. The rifle's loader pulled back, a sign of an empty cartridge. It was then that I realized I was completely out of ammunition for the thing. I hadn't thought to bring the bandoleer full of rifle ammunition from the HEV, and they'd only handed me the gun.

This was bad.

Without thinking, I ran back to the dead grunts and picked up a fuel rod gun. I was going to do this the hard way.

The first jackals showed up. Easy pickings for one packing heat such as I. Or they would have been, if Eric hadn't struck first. A jackhammer round flew straight between the legs of the jackals, sending them flying twenty feet. They apparently didn't know the concept of a phalanx. They fell on the ground with a satisfying thud. I zoomed in with the empty sniper's scope on the weapons they were carrying. Particle Beam rifles. "That's more like it."

I ran to where they were downed, to hear Julia yell, "gunny, get back in position, we've been missing your cover fire!" I didn't have time to respond. I grabbed both rifles and ran back to my position, holding one over my head to bring down on anyone who dared to get in front of me. I slid around and put the beam rifle in position next to the sniper rifle. It was cold, alien, and unfriendly. Nothing like my baby. But it would have to do.

I zoomed back in and started picking at anything I saw. That's when I saw it.

------------

A/N: Sorry about the wait, guys. Got my arm hurt so it kinda hurt to type. Feeling better now.


	4. Complication

[Saturn]

In basic they'd always told us "not to screw with anything larger than eight feet." That meant elites were the limit. These guys were…bigger than eight feet. To say the least.

"Julia, watch it!" I yelled into the mic. She might have heard the message. Maybe. I could see her from my scope, awkwardly falling over as she heard the charging sound of the giant mounted laser the thing was carrying. There was a sucking of sound as the cannon fired a large green/orange beam of superheated plasma straight at her. She managed spread eagle maybe a tenth of a second before the shot impacted her. The blast soared narrowly over the bulk of her body, but didn't fully miss. There was a loud popping sound as the bottom part of the beam cooked her armor and melted it directly to her skin. I could hear her anguished screams over the comm channel. We all could. I looked at her through the scope. She wasn't moving.

Without thinking, I started blasting the big, purple hulking mass in the biggest parts of this armor. The shots literally bounced off, totally unaffecting the alien. It turned around, slowly rearing its tiny head in my direction. I'd definitely given my position away. I got up and starting running to the left, hoping to find some brushes to hide in. I could hear the sounds of fighting going off all around me. I'd forgotten that the other covenant were still here.

Over the mic, Arthur yelled into my ear, "Jackson, get your ass into position! Heather needs cover!"

I wordlessly dropped down onto the ground and trained the beam rifle onto heather's position. She was moving through enemies, mowing down anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way. I picked off a few of the grunts before they could get to her and tried to draw the fire from the jackals. I could tell the Big one knew where I was, but there wasn't time to worry about it.

It didn't mean I didn't have to worry about it.

Daniel rolled over and out of the way of the giant as he brought down his shield on the space he just occupied a second before. He pumped the thing with a bunch of shotgun shells before it ran out of ammo. I thought I saw it limp a little, but it didn't budge. Then it swung its shield around and swatted Daniel out of the way. He hit the ground, tumbled, and stopped. He managed to pop up an arm to support himself. It then took aim at Julia again. That was it.

I couldn't just sit there and watch my squad mates get greased out here. I did what anyone in my position would do. I shot up and ran down the hill like a dumbass to charge the damn thing. Not to be bested so soon, it did…exactly what I should have expected it to do. Plasma soared right for me. If not for my expert tripping skills, it probably would have made a very nice hole in my chest. Instead, I was treated to some of the most intense heat of my life as it shot millimeters from my face. I looked to the side. The big thing had me trapped. The remaining jackals were closing, sensing blood. It looked like I was booked on the next train to hell.

Several assault rifle rounds impacted the heads of the jackals around me. I turned and saw Heather taking aim and firing. Oh god that was scary. Oh god oh god oh god.

I had to calm down. I still had the huge alien staring me in the face. And he was about to fire his cannon straight at me. Wonderful. A round from a rocket launcher and a Chemical laser impacted the beast, knocking it back. I pulled my SMG out of my ass and started firing like a madman into the thing's chest. That must have pissed him off. Another rocket, and another laser shot. How was this thing still moving? It broke into a run. I fired again and heard the most inconvenient clicking sound. I looked around. The beam rifle wouldn't do anything. It was empty too. I had…one option. I reached over to Julia and grabbed her magnum. Why was I doing this? I had maybe a second until it sliced my head off with its shield. What was a pistol going to do? Of all the things I'd thought up to do in the space of two seconds, asking it to not attack would probably have a better chance of working than this. Whatever. This was the way I was going out. I fired the gun straight at its neck as it brought its shield up. It came down. On top of me. It weighed so much, I think I actually flew a little as it hit me. That was it. For whatever reason, that dinky little pistol had did what a Spartan laser and a Jackhammer couldn't.

Arthur and the others took care of mopping up what little resistance remained. Once all the bodies were on the ground, things got quiet again. We all knew what was on each others' minds. I barely knew her, but Julia was a squad mate, and I could tell these guys meant a lot to each other. I had no idea what it was like to be trained as a Spartan, but I figured it made your fellow Supermen family. I stood up, and felt a cracked rib. I'd have to scavenge whatever was left of the biofoam. There wouldn't be a lot to go around.

[Medication]

It was afternoon in the jungle. We were maybe two kilometers from the package. Arthur said he wanted us there by sundown. It was going to be a hell of a walk, assuming we could even get moving here. Heather got out the medical supplies. There were seven cans of biofoam, a sealing coagulant that saved your life but made you wish you were dead when it was used on you. It was the first time I could actually see Julia sense she'd been hit. The wound was on the right side of her back, going from her shoulder line down to her waist. I don't know how she survived. I guess it was one of the perks of being a Spartan.

Heather took off Julia's helmet and then removed her own. In the academy they called this "psyche care." It was easier on the patient if they knew they could trust the medic. I'd never seen a Spartan before yesterday, and I'd certainly never seen one unmasked. They were surprisingly…normal. I don't know what I was expecting. Circuitry, maybe.

Julia had these piercing blue eyes and short black hair. It was a bit over regulation, but I suppose with that helmet on constantly no one would notice. She had what I could tell was a very serious, worried face, ridden with pain from her wound. There were tears in her eyes, but she wasn't crying. Heather had had shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes. She had a kind face, but I could tell she wasn't always like this. "Julia, you ready?" Heather asked. I just noticed we were all standing around them. I looked up. The other Spartans were noticeably uncomfortable with the situation, lacking their usual icy poise. I felt out of place once more.

"Just do it, heather." Heather jammed the nozzle of the biofoam can into her shoulder and squeezed. Julia grimaced and more tears came out, but she wouldn't cry out. It was like watching someone getting flogged. I twitched, now extremely uncomfortable, and gripped my gun tightly. It was all I could do to not throw up into my helmet. The can was emptied out, and the foam oozed through the remaining plating of her armor. Julia looked sullen, but then got up with effort on her face. She walked up to me of all people, looking me in the eye. I depolarized. I figured it was the polite thing to do. She hit me. Hard. I staggered back, but didn't blink, and didn't say anything.

"Jackson, you're an idiot. You just charged into the dead center of enemy fire without even looking around. That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen a soldier do."

I didn't have anything to say in my own defense. It was stupid. _Really _stupid. "But, thanks. I know that thing would've greased me good if you hadn't done that. Just, don't do it again, and don't count on any of us doing that for you." Well, that was comforting.

She motioned to Heather, who was treating Daniel, and she threw Julia a biofoam canister. "Fix your ribs and let's get moving."

Arthur spoke up. "How's your armor doing, Julia?"

"Really, really good, except for the big hole. Seriously." Arthur tilted his head in a manner indicative of a cocked eyebrow. "Really. Well, great. Here's a big leaf to put over it," he said, handing her a giant leaf. I laughed. I didn't know if it was supposed to be funny, but it was. Eventually we all started laughing. Even Eric chuckled.

Arthur addressed Heather, "How much time will that biofoam hold?"

"Four, maybe five hours. It's humid here, it'll loosen it up faster."

Arthur cracked his knuckles on the side of his helmet. "Alright, we need to haul ass to the drop site. They'll have stuff we can actually use to fix our gear and such with. We'll play this conservative. I don't want another firefight if I can help it." Everyone hopped to attention. Daniel and Eric came back from scouting for equipment. "What have we got?" Arthur asked.

"The usual, plasma grenades, rifles, pistols. We found a fuel rod gun, but the damn thing's trigger was blown off. Eric tossed me another beam rifle. I still had the sniper rifle on my back. I wasn't letting that thing go. Julia grabbed two of the plasma rifles. "I'm ready," she said. With her helmet back on, she looked just as fierce as ever, and there was an extra hop in her step. I don't know how she managed it.

"We all are, I think," I said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Alright, let's head out. Stay close, and shut up."

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A/N: There it is, sorry I took so long. I have a bunch of stuff going on right now, but I'll try to keep up with the story as I get the chance. Hope you liked it, and keep the reviews coming. It makes me feel special.


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